Tag: nfl

Golden anniversary for Ashland’s beloved 1975 JAWS football team

The blockbuster movie “JAWS” came out in the summer of 1975 and frightened viewers who were so traumatized they barely dipped their toes in the ocean.

That summer, Herb Conley took his family to Mrytle Beach, an annual pilgrimage for the family. They would set up at a campground and make daily trips to the beach. The three boys – Greg, Shawn and Jeff – were all under 10 and braver than their mother Janice wanted them to be.

Each day they went a little further into the ocean and Janice told Herb she was not comfortable with how daring the boys were becoming.

Herb had an idea. He remembered there was a movie about sharks that had just come out and he took his young family to the movies to watch “JAWS.” The boys sat wide-eyed through the terrifying movie. Let’s just say Janice did not have to worry about the boys getting too far out into the ocean because they barely got back in the water at all the rest of the trip.

Terry Bell breaks through the hoop leading the 1975 Ashland football team onto the field before a playoff game.

“JAWS” had made an impact on Herb Conley, but it would not be the last one for Ashland’s veteran head football coach.

Living up to the JAWS nickname

He returned to Ashland refreshed and looking forward to the 1975 football season. Conley was anticipating a good season given that it was a strong senior class and some of them would be entering their third year of either starting or playing a lot.

It was a season built for success with a combination of speed, size and power. They were developed very much in the image of their coach – hard-nosed, hard-hitting and determined (afraid?) not to make their coach proud. Herb Conley commanded respect as a player, as an assistant coach and as the head coach. He was in his eighth season as the Tomcats’ head coach and a group that he believed was as good as any since the 1971 and 1972 seasons.

When Conley met with his assistant coaches before the season, he mentioned how his boys were scared to death after watching “JAWS” at the beach. Conley mentioned the possibility of naming the defense “JAWS” mostly as a joke. But coaches Mike Holtzapfel and Bill Tom Ross loved the idea.

Rick Sang waits for the play call from head coach Herb Conley, left, and assistant coach Bill Tom ross during Ashland’s 1975 season.

Conley was less sure it was a good idea because, as he put it, sometimes those things backfire on you. But Holtzapfel and Ross would not let it go, and Conley told them only if the team could prove it. That is also what they told the players, who were excited about naming the defense after the terrifying shark from the movie.

It took one game for Conley to be convinced that this “JAWS” nickname might be a good thing. The Tomcats blasted Johnson Central 41-14 in the opener at Putnam Stadium and hard-hitting Chuck Anderson knocked the Golden Eagles’ quarterback out of the game with a crunching hit that also knocked the breath out of him.

When Coach Conley went out on the field to check on him, Anderson could barely breathe but he practically begged his coach to let the team be “JAWS.” Conley pulled him up by the belt and helped his biggest hitter off the field. He would return to the game, but Johnson Central’s quarterback would not.

It became clear that it was no longer safe to go on the football field if the “JAWS” defense was the opponent.

The Tomcats kept it to themselves until after the second week of the season when they defeated top-ranked Bryan Station, 22-12, with another big hit from Anderson spurring a brilliant defensive effort.

Terry Bell was selected the top offensive lineman in Kentucky in 1975.

He knocked a would-be tackler unconscious with a block that sprung Rick Sang for a touchdown on a punt return that put Ashland ahead 12-0. It also set the tone not only for that game but the season.

Eventually, the media at the time got word about the “JAWS” defense and the Tomcat band even learned the memorable music from the movie when the shark was about to attack. Fans brought plastic sharks to the games and the businesses in town were prompting “JAWS” defense on their signs.

Everybody bought in, especially the team.

Make a wish(bone): A dominating offense

Ashland rattled off win after win during the regular season and went into the playoffs unblemished and ranked No. 1 in Class AAAA – then the biggest classification in the state. They demoralized teams on defense and dominated them on offense, too, with a vaunted wishbone offense.

Gary Thomas, only a junior, rushed for more than 1,700 yards and Jeff Slone surpassed 1,000 yards. Jay Shippey and Jim Johnson shared fullback duties, Anderson was the quarterback and Greg Jackson split time in the backfield, overcoming a broken foot that cost him a few games.

Quarterback Chuck Anderson (12) and tackle Raymond Hicks.

Sang was a top athlete as a tight end, return man and punter and the offensive line was ferocious with Terry Bell leading the way. He was voted as the Best Offensive Lineman in Kentucky. Bell was joined on the line by center Terry Lewis, guard Yancey Ramey and tackles Casey Jones and Raymond Hicks.

Shippey and Johnson were punishing runners and Thomas, Slone and Jackson ran like gazelles. Conley said his halfbacks were some of the best blockers he had during his coaching career. Split end Dougie Paige, all 115 pounds of him, could put players twice his size on the ground in downfield blocking. Keith Hillman, a speedy receiver, also played some at split end.

A trip to the movies just what was needed

Ashland had no losses during the regular season, but the team escaped one Friday night against Huntington High, winning 12-6 despite losing three fumbles to improve to 6-0. The players knew it was not their best effort and dreaded practice the following Monday.

Conley said he sensed something was wrong and that the team was playing tired. He told the coaches that instead of a brutal practice, he was taking the players to the movie on Monday to watch “the Towering Inferno,” starring O.J. Simpson, at Midtown Cinema. The players were stunned when they arrived ready for practice and were told to keep their street clothes on and get on the bus. Conley had instructed Hank Hillman of the Boosters Club to reserve the theater – complete with drinks and popcorn – for the team.

It was just what they needed. They came back fresh the next Friday, hammering a good Belfry team 47-7. The fire was reignited.

Ashland closed the regular season at 11-0 with a 43-0 victory over rival Boyd County that wrapped up the district and put them in the postseason. Back then, only district champions advanced to the playoffs. Boyd County had won the previous two seasons against the Tomcats and wanted to spoil their undefeated season. But the Lions were no match for them in at the time was the most lopsided loss in the series.

The playoffs beckon and a flight to remember

Even though the Tomcats were ranked No. 1 and undefeated, their first playoff game was on the road at Dixie Heights in one of the coldest games anybody can remember. After a sluggish first half, a halftime butt-chewing from their head coach got everybody’s attention and Ashland won 36-6. He had captains Sang, Bell and Anderson stand in front of mirrors in the locker room and told them to look into the mirror and ask themselves if they gave their best effort. The rest of the team was watching, and they got the message.

Doug Paige gets the play from coaches Bill Tom Ross, left, and Herb Conley.

Years later, Sang confessed that he thought he had given his best effort but stared into the mirror anyway. Coach Conley called Sang into his class on the following Monday and told him, “Hey Rick, we watched the film, and you really didn’t play that bad.”

 They followed that with a win over Lafayette, 21-6, at Putnam Stadium to advance to the Class AAAA State At-Large championship in Paducah.

The Tomcats were in for a long trip on the other side of the state. But before the Lafayette game was even finished, plans were made to fly to Paducah and the Tomcats became the first team in Kentucky high school history to charter a flight to a game. Ashland was an eight-hour bus ride from Paducah but only a short flight. The Boosters Club raised the money, and the team flew on the day of the game.

Jim Johnson (41) leads the blocking for Greg Jackson.

Many of the players were making their first plane flight and it was a quiet trip with nobody saying anything. It was only five years since the horrific Marshall University plane crash,

The flight kept their legs fresh for Paducah and Thomas broke a 7-7 deadlock with a 75-yard touchdown run with three minutes to play that gave the Tomcats a 13-7 victory and a spot in the overall state championship game against Jefferson County champion St. Xavier.

St. Xavier was undefeated and loaded with talent. The Tigers had 11 different players on offense and defense and that depth wore down the Tomcats, who lost 20-0 after a tight first half, trailing only 6-0 with Ashland missing at least two good scoring opportunities. It would be the only loss in a 14-1 season, but the 1975 Tomcats have remained one of the most beloved teams in Ashland history.

On Oct. 3, the Tomcats 1975 JAWS team will be recognized at Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Putnam Stadium on their 50th anniversary.

RIP Mike Johnson, Tomcat Legend

Mike Johnson was an iconic figure in Ashland sports. He played on state championship teams in Little League (1963) and high school football (1967) and was on Ashland’s state baseball runners-up in 1969. He was the first honoree in the Coaching Legends of the now defunct Ashland Junior/Senior League, named a Distinguished Tomcat in 2013 and a CP-1 Hall of Fame member in 2019.

Johnson was practically an institution in Ashland Babe Ruth, coaching the Reds for 19 seasons. Former players sought him out long after their playing days were over. They often came back and thanked him for inspiring them.

What better testimony can there be for a coach?

Johnson told me once the when the players would come back to see him that he would do a double-take because the boys who were 13 to 15 years old when he coached them were now grown men. But if they told him their name, he remembered them and could recall details they may not even recall.

Mike Johnson during the 2019 CP-1 Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Central Park.

And they sure loved him and the impact he had on their lives.

Johnson has a passion for Ashland youth baseball that carried on for more than 50 years, starting back in his Little League days in the early 1960s. It was a turbulent time for African-Americans and it was during Johnson’s days as a Little League All-Star that he his eyes were first opened to prejudice.

Johnson was a member of the Ashland American 1963 Little League team that would eventually become state champions and came within one victory of making it to the Little League World Series. They played the State Tournament in Lexington and the Ashland team stayed at a motel that would not allow the team’s two Black players – Charlie Jackson and Johnson – to get in the swimming pool.

“On the last day before we left, I dove into that pool with all my clothes on,” Johnson said with a grin in an interview with me.

After the team won its first game in the State Tournament, he remembered the coaches wanted to treat the players to something special. They tossed around ideas like bowling and swimming before settling on a game of miniature golf because there was a course just down from where they were staying.

“I’d never played miniature golf in my life,” Johnson said. “I was looking forward to it. Everybody was excited.”

The team went together to the course and grabbed a club. But the owner stopped Jackson and Johnson from picking one up, telling the coaches that those two boys wouldn’t be allowed to play.

The team decided if their two friends weren’t welcome, they weren’t staying. It was a unanimous decision.

“Growing up in the ‘60s for a black kid was kind of rough,” Johnson said. “Sports was kind of a relief.”

While Johnson learned about prejudice during that trip to Lexington, he also learned about friendship and respect.

“It meant a lot to us that our teammates and coaches stood behind us,” he said. “They wouldn’t do anything or go anywhere that we couldn’t go.”

He said it also may have inspired the Ashland American All-Stars, who went on to win the State Tournament.

“I think it made us play harder, I really do,” Johnson said.

Johnson later played on a Babe Ruth state champion and was a starting cornerback on Ashland’s 1967 state championship football team and was the quarterback on coach Herb Conley’s first Tomcat team in 1968.

His oldest son, Mike Jr., was an all-around athlete and one of the greatest running backs in Tomcat history. He’s now a (track) state champion coach too at Mercer County and an outstanding assistant football coach. A younger son, Charlie, was a member of Ashland’s 1990 state championship team making them the only father-son duos to win state football titles in Tomcat history. His daughter Angie was a tremendous high school and college basketball player and college coach at Georgia and Florida State. He and Anyetta, his wife of 54 years, had reason to be proud.

His speeches to All-Star teams always underscored Ashland’s tradition and how much fun it is to ride the fire truck after winning a state championship. He was a man who knew through life experiences in this Tomcat town that riding the fire truck meant you were something special.

Johnson coached many All-Star teams during his 19 years and, while he never won a state championship, the players left with good memories. Players always liked playing for Johnson because he was fair and he made the game fun. He expected the players to give him their best effort every time and they knew it. I had the honor of coaching with him during my son’s three years on Babe Ruth All-Star teams. I learned so much about coaching and even more about him. He was an inspiration.

His coaching skills were not limited to baseball. He was a constant with the Ashland Junior Football League as well. If you can coach, coach. This man could coach.

And If not for some health issues that were eventually too much to overcome, he might have never stopped coaching.

But Mike Johnson left an imprint on Ashland sports that has few equals. He will always be a Tomcat Legend.